<h2>Name</h2>
<p>
It is derived from the word <em>wan-nazi`at</em> with which the Surah opens.
</p>
<h2>Period of Revelation</h2>
<p>
According to Hadrat Abdullah bin Abbas, this Surah was sent down after
Surah An-Naba. Its subject matter also testifies that it belongs to the
earliest period at Makkah.
</p>
<h2>Theme and Subject Matter</h2>
<p>
Its theme is affirmation of Resurrection and the life hereafter; It
also warns of the consequences of belying the Messenger of God. 
</p>
<p>
The
Surah opens with oaths sworn by the angels who take the soul at deaths
and those who hasten to carryout Allah's Commands, and those who
conduct the affairs of the universe according to Divine Will, to
assure that the Resurrection will certainly come to pass and the
second life after death will certainly take place. For the angels who
are employed to pluck out the soul today can also be employed to
restore the soul tomorrow, and the angels who promptly execute Allah's
Commands and conduct the affairs of the universe today can also upset
the order of the universe tomorrow by orders of the same God and can
also bring about a new order. 
</p>
<p>
After this the people have been told, so
as to say: "This work which you regard as absolutely impossible, is
not any difficult for Allah, for which He may have to make lengthy
preparations. Just a single jolt will upset this system of the world
and a second jolt will be enough to cause you to appear as living
beings in the new world. At that time the same people who were wont to
deny it, would be trembling with fear and seeing with awe struck eyes
all that they thought was impossible. 
</p>
<p>
Then, relating the story of the
Prophet Moses and Pharaoh briefly, the people have been warned to the
effect: "You know full well what fate the Pharaoh met in consequence
of belying the Messenger and rejecting the guidance brought by him and
endeavoring to defeat his mission by trickery and deceit. If you do
not learn any lesson from it and do not change your ways and attitude
accordingly, you also will have to meet the same fate. 
</p>
<p>
Then, in vv.
27-13, arguments have been given for the Hereafter and life after
death. In this regard, the deniers have been asked the question:"Is
your resurrection a more difficult task or the creation of the huge
Universe which spreads around you to infinite distances with myriads
of its stars and planets? Your recreation cannot be difficult for the
God for Whom this was an easy task. Thus, after presenting in a single
sentence, a decisive argument for the possibility of the Hereafter,
attention has been drawn to the earth and its provisions that have
been arranged in it for the sustenance of man and animal and of which
everything testifies that it has been created with great wisdom for
fulfilling some special purpose. Pointing to this the question has
been left for the intellect of man to ponder for itself and form the
opinion whether calling man to account after having delegated
authority and responsibilities to a creature like him in this wise
system would be more in keeping with the demands of wisdom, or that he
should die after committing all sorts of misdeeds in the world and
should perish and mix in the dust for ever and should never be called
to account as to how he employed the authority and fulfilled the
responsibilities entrusted to him. Instead of discussing this question,
in vv. 34-41, it has been said: "When the Hereafter is established,
men's eternal future will be determined on the criterion as to which
of them rebelled against his God transgressing the bounds of service
and made the material benefits and pleasures his objective of life and
which of them feared standing before his Lord and refrained from
fulfilling the unlawful desires of the self." This by itself provides
the right answer to the above question to every such person who
considers it honestly, free from stubbornness. For the only rational,
logical and moral demand of giving authority and entrusting
responsibilities to man in the world is that he should be called to
account on this very basis ultimately and rewarded or punished
accordingly. 
</p>
<p>
In conclusion, the question of the disbelievers of Makkah
as to when Resurrection will take place, has been answered. They asked
the Holy Prophet this question over and over again. In reply it has
been said that the knowledge of the time of its occurrence rests with
Allah alone. The Messenger is there only to give the warning that it
will certainly come. Now whoever wishes may mend his ways, fearing its
coming, and whoever wishes may behave and conduct himself as he likes,
fearless of its coming. When the appointed time comes, those very
people who loved the life of this world and regarded its pleasures as
the only object of life, would feel that they had stayed in the world
only for an hour or so. Then they will realize how utterly they had
ruined their future for ever for the sake of the short lived pleasures
of the world.
</p>

